


Adventures on Gliese 667Cc Or  Jim T. Kirk's horrible, no good, very bad day

by madam_maddie



Category: Star Trek
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bickering, Caves, Claustrophobia, Exploring, Humour, Hurt and comfort, I bite my thumb at canon, I mashed kirk prime and Aos into one person, I wrote this thing for an assingment so there was only so much room for romantic subplot, Kinda, Kirk Prime - Freeform, Kirk aos, M/M, Near Death Situations, Uhh so theres not a lot of romance in this, inaccurate deep sea diving, they're like a married couple - Freeform, vulcans hate the ocean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 23:45:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13558107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madam_maddie/pseuds/madam_maddie
Summary: Now they were supposed to instantly re-materialized on a foreign but surely solid, half and half planet. This was not what happened. He really should have seen this coming. Did he actually think they would be so lucky as to get in and get out? Laughable. Instead Kirk’s lungs were being filled with glass and Kirk was introduced to the lonely feeling of drowning. For a moment, it consumed him.But Kirk had and would be consumed by worse things than water and so he righted himself, swung his arms and began kicking towards the light that danced in his burning eyes. He broke the surface with his head thrown back in a wet hack and a broken gasp. His chest ached with the force of expulsing the salty water, it left a foul taste in his mouth.Spock! where was Spock!





	1. Buggy bastards

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fiction work, I already completed this (It's 10,000 words btw) so I'm gonna break it down by weakly updates. I might go back in and add some romantic sub-plot but I worked on this damn thing everyday for two months so IDK.  
> also theres a really really quick 'suicide' mention, its in the first few paraghraph thingies and it just alludes to the enterprize pretending to fly into the sun.

_Captain's log stardate 31391.62., Alot’s happened today so whoever's listening better sit down because you’re not going anywhere for awhile. We were heading back from a successful diplomacy meeting in the Nunki solar system when a nearby star unexpectedly collapsed and the resulting explosion rocked us straight into both an asteroid which damaged our ship, and the scorpius region. We ended up far across the border into arachnidian territory, so far that we came to a stop right in front of their home star antares._

_The arachnids of course responded by immediately sending an army after us, we were to far from any star fleet base for back up and seeing as they chased us all the way into the ‘tail’ of the constellation before practically destroying us, it was time for some creativity.As any good horror movie writer can tell you, when being chased you can run, hide, and fight. Well consider our legs broken because fighting and running weren’t options anymore._

_I remembered that arachnids have a particular custom of honorable suicide when faced with defeat. I figured that our best bet was to somehow fake that while making ourselves as untraceable as possible, There's lots of ways to die in space and not many that you can fake. However its a well known fact that flying too near to a giant star can scramble a ships sensors due to magnetism. The arachnid's definitely didn’t have enough ships to surround a whole star, if we could fly close enough and release enough torpedos it would look like we had flew into the sun. All we had to do was raise the warp high enough to resist Lesath's (oh, right lesath is the subiant on the back end of the territory in case you weren't familiar with it) Gravitational pull of roughly 82,200 m/s² and compensate for the heat and radiation by doubling our shields current capabilities._

_There was only one problem; our whole engine had gone to the dogs, the engineering crew was scrambling all over just trying to keep everything together. Scotty and Spock went over the math, the only way we’d be able to not go up in flames was to do one of the quickest quick fixes in starfleet history and raise our dilithium concentration to 85%._

_Thankfully it worked, right when the arachidians had us surrounded we made a break for it, led a bit of a goose chase and straight into the outer reaches of the star. It scrambled the hell out of all our internal systems and made my chief engineer cry but thanks to my crew’s ingenuity we managed to swing right off Lesaths orbit and into a stable asteroid belt for camouflage. The arcadians didn’t look for us, but we had a new problem. In using the dilithium at 85%, we had almost completely drained it. We were stranded in an enemy's solar system with something worse than engine failure. No fuel…_

Kirk paced back and forth at the head of their conference table with his hands on his hips, occasionally running them through his hair. He was waiting for his senior officers in the conference room, he had just called for the meeting after Scotty told him what happened to the dilithium. Spock and Scotty were already sitting and watching kirk pace with varying levels of exhaustion, Scotty slumped in his chair looking… sweaty if Kirk was being honest. Spock had a droop to his brow that Kirk came to associate with a tired vulcan.

The doors behind him then slid open and the rest of his crew came shuffling in, they were on the omega shift right now but this situation required the help of a full team so Kirk had regretfully woke them. Sulu and Chekov, his helmsman and navigation officer, were half leaning against each other in a particularly zombie like fashion. In contrast Uhura, his chief linguistics officer, Looked crisp and awake as did bones which was unusual, even if the doctor looked like he had eaten a particularly sour lemon. Kirk figured it was due to the shitty replicated coffee they had in their hands. As everyone settled in Kirk finally sat down, leaning over his elbows on the table.He said “Before we begin let's recap what we know, damage report scotty,”

Scotty shot up at the sound of his name and started speaking, the lack of sleep making his irish accent over saturated. “Er, to be frank captain it’d be shorter just to say what's working. The buggy bastards shot at everything but the kitchen sink, then the sun came and blew that up too. Our warp coils went loose again, The intercoolers need to be replaced completely in some parts, The impulse engine needs a tune up, as does the antimatter and matter annihilation chamber, transporter got fried when we blasted the ship full of straight dilithium, they also got a right nasty hit on our sensor dome so that's a wee bit busted and lastly the magnetic pull of the star wiped our systems. We got it all on back up but we’re gonna have to manually install the whole library. Oh and we don’t have any dilithium period,”

The whole tables faces seemed to drop with every rambled off complication as it really set in with them how bad their situation was. That was a lot to repair before they were even capable of warp and easily another week before they were capable of functioning efficiently. Well, Kirk thought, at least once they warped outta here they had an excuse for a good long shore leave. He sighed and said “Is the transporter workable right now or is it gonna start rematerializing peoples limbs in the wrong spot again? And how soon could you get us warp ready?” Scotty scratched the back of his neck at the question and grimaced just thinking about fixing all the broken parts of his poor ship.

“ It’s the wires on the transporter that are all fried not the stabilizer, I could beam down a few people but to be able to do that I’d have to be inside the thing holding it together. It’d also probably be toast after the first beam down from what ensing smith said, So once they’re down they ain’t coming back up anytime soon,” Scotty said reluctantly.Kirk nodded, it was unfortunate but the sooner they got the dilithium the safer they’d be and if that meant going down and staying down so be it. Kirks eyes flicked over the table“ We all know that there's no place in this constellation that’ll sell us any crystals, that only leaves manual obstruction. Spock did you happen to scan for nearby dilithium traces?”

“Indeed Captain, though the sensor dome is badly damaged I was able to get a basic reading on the nearby solar systems, Particularly the system of planets orbiting the smallest star in the Gliese 667 triad. That solar system has the highest amount of earth-like planets in relation to distance and dilithium readings. I would suggest Gliese 667Cc for our purposes, it is likely more suitable to human physiology than the others despite it being 3.7 times the mass of Earth. However… do to the lack of reliability in our sensor It’s environment is currently unknown as are the amount of life forms. I speculate the planet being in tidal lock based on its orbit, I have compiled a file of the known information and sent it to you,” Kirk had to smile at that, Spock wasn’t the best first officer in starfleet for nothing.

He pulled up his padd and sure enough was the planets portfolio, though it was mostly void. If Spock was right and the planet was in tidal lock they might have to be prepared for extreme temperatures if the dilithium was outside of the horizontal strip of perfect weather that runs around those planets. “ Could you theoretically beam down small packages after beaming down people Scotty?” Scotty waved a hand dismissively “ O’course captain, objects take so little power to beam down it ain't nothing to a transporter, even a broken one,”

Bones who had been on edge since Scotty said they wouldn't be able to beam down many people looked slightly relieved “ Oh thank god for that, there's too many things Kirk’s allergic to for me to allow him on an unknown planet for unknown amounts of time without shoving the whole damn medicine cabinet down his throat,” Kirk huffed at his friends mother henning, not that bones wasn’t right. Kirk pursued the report Spock sent him, it seemed to have a normal habitable chemical reading. Spock was as thorough as possible to try and make up for the loss in other information, indicated by the fact the chemicals list was three paragraphs of fractured percentages in order of most to least. High amounts of iron indicating its metal core, Followed by oxygen, silica, magnesium and about 10 other oxides that formed a planet's crust. Kirk noted that Spock had also included the dilithium reading and circled it in red, for good reason. He knew that the arachnids had a horde of dilithium mineable planets but looking at this it seemed like if you shoved your hand deep enough into the dirt you’d find a crystal sooner or later.

Kirk looked up at the table “ Well according to this report dilithium should be plentiful, so we don’t need to worry about that but how do we know that there isn’t already an arachnidian mining crew down there that would alert the empire?” Sulu elbowed Chekov who had been listening with a glazed look on his face, Chekov rubbed his side and spoke up “Ah, captain if there was a mining crew stationed on any of the planets in that solar system they likely would’ve detected us and realized we had not in fact, exploded,” Uhura jumped in on that “Arachnid's are also said to put great value on the health of each planet’s ecosystem, I doubt they would continuously mine something for long periods of time even if it had an abundance of material.” Good news, that was one less thing they had to worry about. “Alright, that means we’re clear to go down. We’ll probably need basic thermal gear, gravity neutralizing ankle clasps, travel sized mining gear and a Dilithium storage case. We should beam down onto the planetside facing the sun, It’ll be easier to travel through and we happen to have an expert in the desert for a science officer. Spock and me-” said Spock interrupted “Spock and I”

“Spock and I,“ Kirk may or may not have rolled his eyes, then continued “will pick up the gear and beam down, Sulu you have the chair while I’m gone and Scotty I give you clearance to commandeer as many people as you need to get this ship warp ready in the next five hours,”

Everyone got up from their chairs and went to complete their respective tasks. Soon after, Kirk was standing on the transporter pad next to Spock. Scotty was buried in the wires beneath the console while ensign Smith adjusted the beam down coordinates. Spock and him were mostly silent, Kirk would usually prattle on about something but he was just too tired for that right now. Hopefully the adrenaline from beaming will wake him a bit.

Scotty yells some half-coherent engineering gibberish about the angel hair wires finally cooperating and they prepare to beam up. Kirk hears the ensign count of and takes a deep breath before feeling the molasses slow sensation of having your atoms pulled apart. When they are gathered up again, Kirk is immediately aware something has gone horrifically wrong.


	2. Silver backed frilly willy slugs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made this one longer! Also I think there will only be like one more chapter.

Now they were supposed to instantly re-materialized on a foreign but surely solid, half and half planet. This was not what happened. He really should have seen this coming. Did he actually think they would be so lucky as to get in and get out? Laughable. Instead Kirk’s lungs were being filled with glass and Kirk was introduced to the lonely feeling of drowning. For a moment, it consumed him. But Kirk had and would be consumed by worse things than water and so he righted himself, swung his arms and began kicking towards the light that danced in his burning eyes. He broke the surface with his head thrown back in a wet hack and a broken gasp. His chest ached with the force of ex-pulsing the salty water, it left a foul taste in his mouth.

_ Spock! _ where was Spock! Kirk thrashed in the water, turning around in a circle, but the scenery remain unbroken. Kirk saw only the crashing of waves covered in a blinding orange light and a dark red sun. The anxiety and frenzy filling Kirk rotted his gut, left him breathing harsher than he had and he had just been drowning. Deep breathes through the nose he reminded himself, Spock materialized just as he had. He should have been right beside him, he must still be in the water. He drew a deep breath that made is sternum scream and dived back through the sea. Blinking through the salt that assaulted his eyes Kirk combed the endless waves. Empty, empty, _ empty  _ where was he.? Kirk wasn’t a fan of war but god help him if Spock died he was going to go to star fleet and enact a war on the Arachanadians that would decimate a thousand solar system- There!

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a brief flash of science officer Blue and dived in its direction. It was Spock, flailing weakly against the pull of a current. He was deeper in the water than Kirk had been, his lungs and limbs burned with the need for oxygen but he was so close now, His vision was beginning to cloud over with black spots but that didn’t matter if he could just-

Jim snatched Spock's ankle and pulled Spoke to him. Yanking the heavy Vulcan to his agonized breast Jim launched them to the top of the waves. When Kirk once again broke through the surface it was with no small amount of relief and worry. Thankfully it seems he had caught him before Spock passed out, because Spock began to wheeze harshly in his arms. Kirk shifted in the water and reached under Spock's armpits and pressed his elbows against the Vulcan cartilage while pressing his clasped hands repeatedly against Spock's chest until he felt him throw up the last water. Spock continued to choke and gasp, Kirk realized that if he continued doing that he could very well suffocate himself and damage his throat, speaking softly he said “ Spock listen to me, I need you to slow down and take deep breaths, breathe in to the sound of five and out the same way, _in_ and out, _in_ and out,” Eventually Spock stopped heaving as much until he seemed like he was getting enough air.

“Jim you must also slow your breathing, You are close to hyperventilation,” Spock said, voice scratchy. It figures the first thing Spock says to him while still under the threat of drowning is to calm down. Nonetheless Kirk followed his own advice, focusing on the feeling of Spock's alien heart beating against his sternum and pulling air in gently. Kirks hands twitched with the urge to comm Scotty and tell him to beam them up, but that was useless. They both knew that there was no hope of Scotty being able to fix the transporter in any reasonable amount of time. He didn’t let go of his first officer for the fear of him being pulled back into the depths of the cruel ocean. Instead he rotated them in a circle, looking for any sign of land. Kirk spun in a full circle and saw a silhouette against the magma sky. 

“can you estimate how far that is Spock?” Kirk said against Spock’s neck. “Approximately 3 miles captain. Based on a humans average speed you would reach it within an hour. However Captain there is a bigger problem… I cannot swim. Vulcan is largely devoid of large bodies of water and my physiology creates a natural aversion to it, the high council did not think it logical to teach it in Vulcan, nor did Starfleet,” Spock admitted panting. Kurt sighed through his nose and let his forehead fully rest against the back of Spock's neck. 

He had guessed as much from the way Spock had been defenseless against the pull of the current but a part of him hoped it had been because he was taken off guard. “Well, I guess I’ll have to carry you to shore then won’t I. Besides, we might be in deep water now but if we’re only three miles from shore we might end up wading through shallow water sooner than we think,” Kirk pointed out. “all right, if I’m gonna swim us to shore any time soon we need to flip over, and you need to kick with me. Can you do that Spock?” Spock’s response was short “yes Captain,”

And so Kirk flipped them both on their backs, kicking in-sync with Spock. They couldn’t see the island but Spock didn’t need to keep the island in sight to keep them on course. Kirk felt like a particularly disgruntled otter on the verge of capsizing. Looking at what he could see of Spock's face he marveled that this was one of the most expressive moments Kirk had ever seen him in. It definitely wasn't a pleasant one either, it reminded him of the expression cats make when you try to give them a bath, Terror, disgust and resolve. Kirk had seen Spock with emotional control despite being close to death more times than he could count, he hazards that ‘natural aversion’ was an understatement.

It turned out that instead the large shallow bay Kirk had been hoping for the island hosted a steep drop off that merged onto the small beach. By the time they reach the jagged silhouette their limbs were heavy. As they wade through shallower and shallower water they lean on one another. The island looks like a dormant volcano covered in dark foliage, jutting from the water like a broken bone. Kirk stumbles up onto dry land and half gently lowers, half collapses onto the white sand with Spock. He pants and sprawls against the sand, he thinks he could marry this island. 

After a moment of listening to Spock's harsh breathing, which Kirk thinks is justified considering the circumstances, He begins the next stage of the mission. Re-calibration. “Spock is your transcorder still operational? “ Kirk asks tiredly, He really shouldn’t do triple shifts anymore he's too damn old to run on four hours of sleep. Spock replies after taking the device from where it still hung around his neck  and fiddling with it “ It appears so Captain, I was unaware of the transcorders waterproof capabilities but it is undoubtedly a logical design choice,” Kirk closed his eyes in relief and let his head thump back against the sand “Do a scan for Dilithium and near by life forms, especially in relation to the Dilithium,” Kirk says.

It doesn’t take Spock long to answer “ We are most fortunate Captain, It seems that the arachnids have indeed mined here before. The strongest Dilithium signatures reside in what appears to be and underwater cave beneath this island, the arachnids have created an opening above a deep sea tunnel leading directly to the crystals, The only life forms detected are on the island and further into the sea”

“That’s awfully lucky,”  Kirk says because it’s true and he likes to annoy Spock. Spock purses his lips ever so slightly in a Vulcan glare. “Luck is illogical” he states, Kirk knows, he also knows he’s been a lucky bastard sense birth and will continue to be so. 

Changing the subject Kirk says “If we’re going deep sea diving, though I have no idea how you’ll handle that, we’ll definitely need some depressurizing bodysuits with a water propulsion pack and an oxygen filtering helmet in order to retrieve the Dilithium safely. We also dropped the Dilithium storage case so we’ll need another. The only problem is getting them,” Next Kirk struggles to pull the comm out of his soaking pants, when he finally frees it he snaps it open and growls “Captain Kirk to the Enterprise come in Enterprise,“ the comm crackles before Uhura answers the call “ Kirk? Why are you calling the ship?” 

“Well Uhura it seems we have made a factual error. For some reason we landed in the sea, we’re on shore now but we obviously had to recalibrate our plans to obtain the dilithium. It’s gonna take a longer than we expected to get it at the rate we’re going. Is Scotty or Bones on bridge we have a list of items that need to be transported,” In response Uhura hissed what Kirk could only assume to be the klingon curses she likes to mutter when she’s upset. “I’ll call Scotty to the bridge and put your comm on speaker Captain, Are you injured?” Kirk considered this for a moment, Spock might still have water in his lungs.

“Well we both almost drowned so that needs attention, though I doubt Scotty has the transporters ready, any specifics on your part Spock?” His first officer leans over so he can speak into the comm “I will likely need an oxygen deficiency hypospray, I have an obstruction in my lungs but am capable of performing Vulcan cardiopulmonary resuscitation on myself,” Kirk’s eyes flicked over in alarm. “ You still need CPR? Why didn’t you say that immediately?” Spock replied “You already dispelled a large amount of the water when you rescued me before, if I were completely human I would simply absorb the remaining salt water into my bloodstream but my lungs are incapable of it. I will force my lungs to constrict until no water remains, it is as you say often, ‘no big deal’,”

Kirk grimaced at the uncomfortable thought “Jesus you really weren’t kidding about a natural aversion, no wonder you never wanted shore leave on the beach. Uhura Is Scotty there?” It’s Scotty’s Irish lilt that booms out of the speaker in contrast to the cool voice of Uhura he had been expecting to hear. 

“Uhura told me what happened, tell me whatcha need and your coordinates so I can beam it down,” so Kirk listed off the items he mentioned to Spock, making sure to specify for the necessary hypo sprays to be doubled. Spock then used the transcoder to measure their coordinates, got back up and walked a good few yards away before sitting in a meditative position and doing the absolute worst dry heaves Kirk had seen in his entire life and Kirk had once witnessed a man cough up a live eel.

Once Kirk’s done relaying all the items Scotty says “How did you even land in a sea? If the planets in tidal lock a sea that ain't frozen should be few and far between,” Kirk shrugs before remembering Scotty can't see it. “Might’ve been bad luck, We didn’t exactly have a plethora of information Scotty. I’ll ask Spock for his theory when he stops literally coughing up a lung. Kirk out,” Scotty repeats the phrase and hangs up.

Kirk reluctantly glanced back at Spock who seemed to be finishing up expelling the water from his lungs thank god, so Kirk waited until he was sure Spock wasn’t making anymore gross noises to go sit down beside him. Spock wiped his chin and took a few deep breaths through his nose before speaking softly “I apologize Captain, I should have anticipated the possibility of a thick atmosphere capable of casting the planet in an equal distribution of thermal dynamics despite the tidal lock. I likely would have compensated for the possibility of landing in water if I had,”

Kirk was slightly surprised by Spock's apology, he didn’t exactly blame Spock for not knowing something that he couldn’t predict “ nonsense Spock, This is hardly your fault. You had no evidence to support the possibility of an atmosphere like that, you made a decision based on what little information you had-”

Suddenly Kirk hears the soft sound of something re-materializing, looks over his shoulder to see an honest to goodness basket. Kirk chuckles to himself while reaching around to grab it and peers inside. It contains two folded black suits with a small instruction manual that he immediately hands to Spock, because he’s worn something similar before and can admit that he cannot physically read faster than Spock, two accompanying helmets with built in air filters, two pairs of flippers, one Dilithium case, a conveniently compatible pair of aquajets that they would strap on over their suit, water bottles, and two box sets of hypo sprays with writing taped on the side; one reading hobgoblin and the other said dumbass. Oh Bones.

Kirk hands Spock one of the waterproof ensamble, they both wrestle out of their still wet uniforms and into the baggy black material. Kirk presses the button in the center of the suit and it suctions against his body like a vacuum seal. It’s sleek, built for maximum efficiency and unbelievably uncomfortable. He watches Spock pick up, then plunge a hypospray straight into his carotid artery and Kirk winces at the sight of a needle to the neck.

Spock watches a video and reads three different articles on how to swim on his padd before even approaching the water with trepidation. Kirk notices that he makes no move to attach his oxygn helmet “Are you sure you don’t want your helmet Spock?” Spock's eyes flick back to him and the helmet he stands next to, his lips in a thin line. “While this way is certainly the more dangerous option Captain, using the oxygen while learning would create a crutch that would limit me more than it would assist me,” Kirk sighs, that makes sense even if he would prefer Spock in an environment that negates drowning he cannot currently provide such a thing. “I assume you don’t want me to help you for the same reason ?” Spock nods “affirmative Captain,” 

Spock then hesitantly wades through the water, until he reaches chest level where he stops and turns on his back. Kirk watches Spock essentially play in the sea but with purpose, testing floating, arm movements, kicking and getting used to holding his breath efficiently. He was tense at first, waiting for Spock to be suddenly disappear with every cresting wave but as Spock grew more comfortable in the water so did Kirk. He felt kind of foolish actually, but when one sees their best friend near death they tend to worry. To try and stifle that worry Kirk fiddles with the transcoder. If this is how Spock feels every time he almost dies… well he can’t really say he’s gonna stop almost dying, he’s a Starfleet captain it’s pretty much all he does. Kirk watches Spock until he’s certain Spock isn’t in danger, then he makes himself useful.

He wanders to the edge of the tree line, makes a mental map of their route to the drop point, Notes the two tiny pale stars in the corner of the sky in contrast with the dark, fat, burgandy sun hanging heavy in the sky. He starts filling out the planetary report Spock sent him in more detail and then more paperwork he had been neglecting. He runs out of paperwork, does some basic breathing exercises, stretches and peruses the scuba gears instruction manual which was pretty high tech, the helmet in particular came with quite a few nifty features besides giving him breathable air. Kirk then grew bored of that too and went back to watching Spock.

For someone who seemed to imply liking water as much as Elphaba, Spock seemed to learn quickly, in just a few hours he seemed to master the basics of the backstroke and the freestyle. Taking breaks only to drink. Considering Vulcans literally found the idea of large bodies of water so disturbing and foreign they illogically deemed the basic survival skill of swimming unimportant, quick learner was maybe an understatement. Gotta love how convenient it was that Spock could master something that almost killed him earlier in a matter of hours. 

Kirk sat with his arms crossed over his knees propping up his chin as he watched. There was a warm sensation in his chest that he decided felt almost akin to pride, which was honestly a little condescending considering his first officer was accomplishing something and Kirk didn't particularly help him with it. It must be because he’s his first officer, he decided. It was definitely normal for Captains to feel overwhelming amounts of pride and affection for their crew members when they overcome a challenge. It’s definitely not slightly inappropriate and unprofessional. Not at all. 

Just as Kirk is filing away this moment for later introspection Spock finally comes out of the water. He snatches a water battle out of the basket and drinks before saying “ Captain I believe I am sufficient enough that I will be able to obtain the Dilithium without risking grievous injury to myself or others. If it is convenient for you I would like to proceed towards the caves,” Kirk nodded and grabbed the basket. He almost asked Spock if he wanted to towel off before remembering that they would just get wet again anyway.

As Kirk and Spock went walking side by side through the fauna Kirk kept his eyes peeled for any potential threats. Transcoders were handy but could sometimes be unreliable.  The vegetation all seemed to be facing the sun Kirk realized, the volcano was covered by a forest of wide plants that reminded him more of giant Sacramento green sunflowers than of earth’s trees and the ground was covered in spiky looking bushes that ranged in shape, size and color. Stepping through a smaller patch to get a little closer to the redwood sized tree-flower-thing Kirk examined the first non-Vulcan alien life form he'd seen all day, three palm sized slugs. They were black as sin and speckled with little silver spots, each possessing long curly fronds that they used to shimmy upwards. They were kinda cute in an alien slug way.

Kirk glanced at Spock who was hovering over his shoulder, then pointed at the transcoder. Spock said in response “similar to a terrestrial gastropod Captain, my scanners indicate that they are not lethal to either of us. Would you like to give it a traditionally sentimental name, one that no one else will ever use because no one besides the Arachnidian will encounter it and will therefore serve no purpose, as it’s founder?” Kirk snorted and said “Why yes I will Spock, from this day on it shall be known as the Silver backed frilly willy slug.“ Kirk chose this name because he knew that as a science officer Spock would have to both submit a voice recording and paperwork noting any species encountered, with the customary founder name. Kirk would have to do the same but it was a price he was willing to pay.

Spock's face was particularly stony as he said “of course Captain,” in a manner some would attribute to sarcasm. Kirk was that some. They continue walking and Kirk doesn’t see anything particularly interesting after that, just a few ferret sized meaty looking insects that fly right past them. This causes Spock to believe they are  somewhere in this planet's Pennsylvanian period which is odd because red dwarfs are the oldest and longest living stars, this planet definitely didn’t form recently, so in all honesty it should be much further developmentally then it is. Kirk agrees and adds on that almost everything they’ve seen is rather dark in coloration probably because of the low amounts of light red dwarf suns give off. They debate about the effects this might have on the structural integrity of life forms on this planet despite its higher gravity until before Kirk knows it they’ve reached a large gaping hole in the ground. It drops down a few feat straight into a deep cavern of inky black water.

Looking into it fills Kirk with a deep set primal paranoia. It’s true that everything around them is black but the forest is spread thinly so plenty of light flickers through. This is a darkness not unlike the void of space, and it reminds Kirk how dangerous deep sea diving is. Sure they're suits will protect them from being crushed to death by water pressure and warm water hypothermia but it’s entirely possible that something could collapse.

Kirk saw a similar thought in Spock's posture, his spine stiffer than usual and his fingers twitching at his sides. He wasn’t particularly claustrophobic and he doubted Spock was either but small spaces did set him a little on edge, probably because it reminded him of Iowa.Reminded him of the days he spent trapped in his tiny bedroom before he knew how to pick a lock. Reminded him of the dumpsters he slept in on Tarsus IV. Reminded him of the lesson he learned in either place, that thin walls are an illusion of safety more dangerous than the threat itself.

To add on to the list of generally bad things, from what he remembers of the brief segment on cave exploration from the academy deep sea caves were a whole new level of trapped. Often squeezing through holes that risked tearing your suit and thus exposing you to whatever pressure the cave was at, and if your helmet broke you’d die within minutes. Okay so maybe he was a tad claustrophobic but Kirk had physically died before he can take some small spaces. The memory of suffocation was ricocheting around in Kirk's head but he reminded himself that he was doing this voluntarily and for the sake of his crew. 

Kirk catches Spock's eye, silently questioning him if he was alright. Spock gives a small nod, he's ready. Kirk opens the basket and hands Spock his helmet, puts his own on, then he ties the Dilithium case to the back of his aqua jet and puts the harness on. It’s Spock who first steps into the water, throwing one leg over the side of the trench and letting himself drop into it. Spock pops back up after being submerged for a few seconds Kirk follows by sliding in, he’d dive but he’s not exactly sure how deep this thing is and getting a concussion is not on his to do list. He turned on his helmets dark-vision setting, it would allow him to see his surroundings clearer than a flashlight could. 

The helmet also has a built in communication device that's hooked up to both the enterprise and all other active helmets, capable of calling both at once or each separately. Kirk turns to his science officer, presses a button on the collar of the helmet to open his line to Spock and asks “ Alright we’re in the hole, where do we go from here?“ To which Spock replies, “ down 20 meters and straight along the rock face in front of you Captain, there should be a large crack that leads down into a main tunnel that we’ll follow for 47.56 meters where we’ll continue down a smaller path to the right,” 

Kirk said “Let's get moving, the sooner we get in the sooner we’re out” and submerged himself in the water perpendicular to the cave wall in front of him, clicking on the aqua jet. He set it on slow propulsion of course, the aqua jets were just to assist them if they put it on full power they’d probably cause a cave in. Spock did the same and swam beside Kirk, the water around them growing blacker as they went deeper. After a few minutes Kirk spotted the beginning of a crack and sure enough after swimming another few meters down was a terrifyingly small breach that led into another hollow space.They were lucky their gear was small enough to fit through it. Kirk gripped along the craggy surface of the wall and used it to swing down and squeeze through. Once his shoulder made it between the crack he stuck his arm out for Spock.

He felt a hand wrap around his wrist tightly and Kirk pushed off the wall to pull Spock through and into the cave. Kirk examined his surroundings, this chamber was maybe 20 or 30 meters wide and the ceiling curved down into two arches, one was obviously a continuation of the cavern and a smaller one that didn’t continue very far. The tunnels looked like someone had chipped away at the rock with a spoon until it made a hole. Kirk supposed he was kinda right about that if you considered the sea to be a kid with a spoon called erosion. Kirk ended that tangent and focused back on assessing the entrance. It was tall enough that they’d be able to float upright but as they swam through it gradually became smaller. 

Kirk's attention was always halfway divided on Spock, swimming in tight crevices was different than swimming in open water and Spock was newer than a freshly squeezed out baby. It would be stupid to turn off the call only to turn it on every time they wanted to speak and so Kirk could hear Spock's faint breathing through the helmet. It was a reassuring sound, Kirk didn’t want to distract Spock so he kept quiet.

The floor was covered in broken shards of rock, jagged formations and sand. He wondered to himself if this was made from a material similar to limestone. Even with the lighting from his helmet Kirk couldn’t see very far in front of him, the caves trail remain a dark abyss. The tunnel lead in a natural curvature down to the right and up to the left like a lopsided half circle. The aquajets were heaven sent, they were lucky they had them or it would take a hell of a lot longer to get through these. Even with those by the time they reached the cross roads Spock had mentioned earlier Kirk was starting to get pretty sick of being in water. The cross roads itself was a sliver of space between the top and bottom rocks and a nice wide path to the left of them. Somehow Kirk doubted they were going down the nice wider path like they had before. He came to a stop beside Spock and said “ We’re not going down that claustrophobic looking hole are we?” Spock’s voice came from the opposite side of the helmet which was a little disorienting “If you are referring the the right hand path I regret to inform you that that is in fact our destination”

He exhaled through his nose “ _ great _ okay, so if I remember the map correctly from here on it's just a mostly straight shot to the place that we’re 100% certain has mine-able Dilithium?”  he twisted in the water to meat Spock's eyes completely. “We will be continuing to take paths to the right of us for approximately 112 meters, at the end of those 112 meters we will continue straight into the naturally forming Dilithium crystals cave, then we will return the way we arrived,” Spock said. Kirk nodded, 112 meters wasn’t much. They had swam a lot farther when they were on the brink of death and they didn’t have aqua jets then. He really needs (needed) to stop bringing that up with himself. 

“After you,” Kirk says and Spock passes him to dive into the hole, angling his body so his pack doesn’t scrape the sides. He follows Spock down the proverbial rabbit hole with less than a foot between them. The walls are to jagged and close together to be comfortable even as it ever so slightly widens with the caves curvature and the sudden sharp up turns or down turns

There's a few times where they pretty much have to stop completely and maneuver themselves around crumpled parts of the wall. Kirk learns that cave diving is a practice of patience because while it seems like they could clear 112 meters in minutes if you are careless you could potentially cause a cave in. Kirk is aware they’ve reached 112 meters when they squeeze through a smaller part of the arching hollow when it very suddenly widens into the mouth of what Kirk thinks at first is a dead end because there is no open ended tunnel that you can see winding deeper into the ground. Just a dome of slate with a straight crack down the middle like someone tried to split it in twain. Unless, Kirk thinks, that tiny thing is the tunnel. Fear makes his intestines churn like worms in his stomach. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dues Ex spockina


	3. Crystal fields

The cave walls opening was like nothing like the others they had been squeezing through this entire journey. This was a sliver of darkness between two completely solid walls and that darkness stretched so deep they couldn’t see the clearing that it allegedly lead to. Kirk swam into an upright position and put his hands on either side. It was barely the span of his arm width and there was no guarantee it wouldn’t get tighter farther into it. The transcoder was to basic to tell them exactly how large the tunnel would be only the path that lead them to their goal. Spock hovered over his shoulder, also looking into the crevice. “It looks like we gotta turn head first and rely on our jets to get us through this. How far until we pop out the other side Spock?” Kirk asked apprehensively.

“It will be 97.8 meters to my knowledge Captain. If it is of any comfort, we are almost there,” Spock said in an almost hesitant manner. Was his claustrophobia really showing that much? Kirk breathed deep and let his teeth grit together. 

Kirk turned his jets on a slightly higher setting and adjusted himself carefully, sliding through the crack was like stepping into the shadows, there were only so many places to look and all of them were some form of rock enclosing him in. No room up, down or side to side. Only forward, Kirk just had to keep moving forward. Kirk couldn’t move through it fast enough. To make it worse it seemed to be getting smaller the closer they got to the end, making Kirk's heart pound in his ears. He felt like this cave, the world, was closing in on him. Trying to snuff him out, his palms shook at his side. He tried to anchor himself in the audio softly playing through his helmet. He synced his breathing to Spock's as much as he could and held his grip on reality tight.

Despite Kirk's minor panic attack causing it to feel like an eternity he realized once he wriggled his way through the other side of the tunnel, that they had actually been going at a faster pace than they probably should have. Well Kirk was patient to a fault. The second thing he realized, was that Dilithium in an underwater cave is absolutely  _ beautiful _ . This is definitely going on the top twenty wonders of various worlds list, even if it was a bitch to get to. The Dilithium was larger than any shards Kirk had ever seen before, the crystals jutted out of the cave’s every surface in a variety of sizes, some as big as Jim himself, some bigger. In more shades of purple than Kirk had ever seen on a Dilithium crystal. He could definitely see why the arachnid's would want to preserve this place and it almost felt wrong to take from it. They would only take a few, he reasoned, Nothing big. 

He turned to Spock who had popped out of the tunnel right after Jim. Spock was not often pleasantly surprised enough to let it show as much as he was now and Kirk was mildly entranced by the way the purple light bounced off of his green toned skin. Purely aesthetic appreciation of course. It seemed to erase the tension created by the tunnel and to be honest the fact that the cove was larger by far than anything they had been in before. It looked like all the caves branching off of this one that had the Dilithium in it too.

Suddenly Spock met Kirk's eyes “ It is.. Fascinating, Dilithium is almost always on dry land and rarely grow to be this size if perhaps ever. I suspect that these two factors are connected of course but I have no proof to support that theory. The color is also quite an anomaly because…”

Wow. Oh my god Kirk had never seen Spock so excited about anything really, Sure he had gotten more than a few lectures from him on various things and Spock got a little long winded when he was nervous but this must be a pretty groundbreaking discovery in geology based energy fuel if Spock was essentially freaking out over it. If Vulcans smile with their eyes Spock was practically beaming.

Oh shit he had stopped listening what was he talking about. “ … And so it would be a shame to leave behind these sample subjects but I can’t predict how the ship would react to Dilithium so different from the previous crystals,” Spock said with almost a hint of disappointment. Well that wouldn’t do. “We have a little room in the case, I'm sure we could snatch a few littler ones that seem like good samples and still have room for the ones we think are engine compatible,” Kirk said appeasingly. Spock seemed to nod at that, “most logical captain,” 

Kirk and Spock spent a little while exploring the geode esque cave. Kirk picked out the ones that he knew looked like the common Dilithium further towards the back behind some larger ones, cutting them with his phaser easily. He put them safely in the case and then re-strapped it on his back, thankful that mot things were waterproof in the 23rd century. Kirk spoke over the comm “alright Spock I got the crystals we need for take off where are you ?”

Spock replied “ I’m at the mouth of the third largest tunnel to the right. I am collecting a very abnormal set of crystals that are more blue than purple, very strange,” Kirk laughed a little as he swam out of the semi-blockade the large pillars put him in to see Spock low on the ground turning over the afformented rock in his hands. “very strange indeed Spock,”

What happened next was a culmination of today's events.  Maybe if Kirk hadn’t been so fatigued, hadn’t been put into one stressful situation after the next, hadn’t felt a little relaxed by what he had thought was the end of a terrible chain of events, he might’ve caught it in time but sadly all those things had created a moment where Kirk was lacking. At first when Kirk saw the brief flicker of light in the dark cave he thought it was just the Dilithiums purple glow. In seconds that flicker had manifested as a gastly beast. A mouth of icicle fangs painted in a saccharine smile stretched tight over the head of a large eel like creature. It’s body stretched into darkness of the cave, too long to see. 

Kirks hand whipped to the phaser at his side as he desperately yelled “ _ Spo- _

But he was too late. Spock looked up at him and his brown eyes met Kirk's for a fraction of a second before the monsters smile broke to open its maw and lunge at Spock. It swallowed him whole. Kirk notes distantly that he will forever be haunted by the way its throat closed grotesquely over what he knew to be possibly the only person he had truly trusted. The creature stays where it is, bathing in the previously romantic glow that now flashed like a siren in Kirk's mind. Mocking him. He once again locked eyes, but these were not the warm earth color Kirk had come to rely on, these were the harrowing milky white eyes that look as devoid of emotion as he felt. 

And then the feeling of cold fury sweeped through him. If he were standing he probably would’ve buckled under the pressure of it but he did no such thing. He yanked the phaser from its holster and automatically set it to kill. The previous standoff was of course broke by Kirk's move to kill and the monster certainly wasted no time hesitating before attacking. It’s body coiled and striked at Kirk with a snarl. Kirk anticipated this in return and stuck his foot between the things teeth while keeping the top of its mouth open with his hand. Kirk aimed for where he thought the creatures skull would be and tried to fire but between the one hand and it’s thrashing he only managed to shoot out a tooth before it smashed him against the wall.

Kirk bounced off the crystals, breaking quite a few when getting thrown at them. He also heard a crunching sound that he took to be his aquajet.  _ Aquajet _ . Whatever damage had been done to it it must be primarily fine as Kirk used it to take off in the opposite direction from this terror of the deep. Kirk kept trying to shoot at it as it chased him around the damn cave but it was too fast. He might be able to use that against it however. Maybe if he could just keep it distracted long enough Spock could get at it and-

_ Spock was dead. _ Kirk thought that the pain shooting through his whole body at the statement was definitely worse than dying. He could hear the memory of Spock’s breath playing through the helmet and the resounding silence tortured him. His stomach turned.  _ He was going to tear that fish apart. _ He glance at his surroundings, the thing was currently trying to catch him as Kirk weaved in and out of crystal fields. The damn thing was smashing into almost each and every one of them. Which meant it probably didn't see very well, its vision must be operating on some level however because it was able to dodge his phaser. It was probably because of how bright these parts of the cave are, he realized. The red dwarf sun already didn’t produce much light and if this thing was a permanent resident it wouldn’t be crashing all around trying to get to him. Combine that with its size, you're looking at a verified open sea creature.  

Kirk could use that. He could definitely use that. Glancing around Kirk noticed that far down one of the tunnels was a huge Dilithium crystal that jutted up from the wall at an upwards angle, Looking as sharp as any harpoon Kirk had seen. Kirk took a dive down the shaft, deftly maneuvering around the larger crystals. The sick thing behind it however was simply crashing right through them with its face. Kirk wondered if Spock would be upset to see it destroyed. The rage boiling in Kirk reached blood lust, Kirk eagerly waited until he was maybe ten meters from the makeshift harpoon before spinning around to face the monster behind him and reaching up to switch his helmet from darkvision to the flashlight setting. Raising the light concentration to 3000 lumens. Brighter than an ancient automobiles headlights by a large margin.

It had its intended effect, when the grotesque creature saw Kirk stop suddenly it immediately coiled and lunged with its mouth open. Just like it had done earlier… to Spock. When Kirk had turned on the lights it had no way of knowing it was about to lunge straight into the crystal behind Kirk. It speared itself onto it, a purple rod breaking straight through its head like a bloody horn. Kirk hadn’t been as fast as he’d wanted to be, reversing the jets just in time to not get swallowed but he still was slammed into the wall beneath the larger crystal. He felt the pain from being pinned against the spiky wall open a floodgate of emotional pain within him. It was a rush of turmoil and adrenaline that fueled a sadistic urge inside of him and Kirk grabbed the bottom jaw and reversed his thrusts 100%, pulling with all his strength. It gave the result he had wanted, he tore the things jaw almost completely of its body. It split its gaping mouth down the side of it like a horrible Glasgow smile. It thrashed beneath Kirk's hands and died. Kirk felt numb. Carnage floated up and out of it, spreading around the water like smoke through a room.

He experienced an out of body sensation as he watched it die. No more anger, no vengeance, just the empty feeling of  _ loss. _ Kirk's face felt wet, had his helmet broke? No, he’d felt drowning before and it didn’t feel like this. Hell he’d been in shock before too and it didn’t feel like this. He must be crying, he realized. And just like that a damn broke within him, He was curling into his knees, floating in the water in a ball while screaming and sobbing in broken gasps. How fitting would it be, he thought, if he cried until his helmet was full and he literally drowned in his sorrow.

In the corner of his eye he saw the monsters side ripple. He ignored it, It wasn’t uncommon to spasm after death. The flesh continued to wriggle and thrash. He slowed his sobs a little and blinked hard trying to compensate for his inability to wipe tears through his helmet. The things gullet was practically a seizure levels of shaking was this thing one of those shitty animals that gave birth right after dying? Kirk set his jaw and raised his phaser, once again setting it to darkvision. It’s skin was beginning to bulge around something, and that something was definitely coming out of it. Kirk put his finger on the trigger but something in the back of his mind saw its outline and whispered  _ what if… _

Just like that came Spock tumbling out of the abomination covered in an orange goo and bits of meat. Oh, he thought, I'm hallucinating in my grief. Fresh tears began to spill from his eyes and he lowered the phaser. His apparition seemed vaguely confused and was moving his lips, but Kirk couldn’t hear anything. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with a sudden bout of insanity right now. He turned away from it, heading back out of the cave. If he couldn’t save Spock he was at least going to save his crew before taking a permanent leave of absence. He can’t hallucinate and still be a Captain. 

Then he felt a hand grab his shoulder and twist him around. Spock’s mirage was much closer and seemingly much more confused than previously, still moving his lips without sound. Kirk focused in on the hand on his shoulder. It was drenched in orange and most importantly,  _ touching him.  _ Kirk was kinda new at this but he at least knew things that didn’t exist couldn’t manipulate physical objects. Which meant....

Kirk began sobbing anew this time with a touch of hysterical laugh as he met Spock's eyes fully for what felt like the first time in years. He still looked incredibly confused and rather worried. “ S-spock is that you? Are you real? If your real why can’t I hear you _ I saw you get eaten _ how did you survive-” Spock cut him off with a rather forceful finger to where Kirk's lips would be if not for the helmet. Kirk shut up and Spock pointed to the communications button on his helmet, then shook his head. Ah so that was why he couldn’t hear him it must've gotten damaged while he was, swallowed. This also told Kirk that yes this Spock must be real because no Spock he dreamed up would cut him off like the real Spock did.

Okay so, Spock was alive. That was good, more than good it was fan-fucking-tastic. First things first, “Unless you are injured or your helmet is damaged beyond the communicator, Can I hug you? Are you okay with that because I think I need some goddamn emotional reassurance right about now, “He said maybe a tad more desperately than he had wanted. Oh well, Spock’s eyebrows raised but he nodded hesitantly and opened his arms which was all the okay Kirk needed. He wrapped his arms around him tightly, Spock's arms lightly soothed his shoulders that he realized were wracking again. He really needed to stop crying or he would actually drown. It was a little awkward what with the helmets and Spock's Vulcan no touchy touchy culture but that was fine and dandy with Kirk.

He had only really had a moment of panic before when he had lost Spock in the waves and that had proceeded to mildly disturb him for hours but it was nothing like being certain Spock had died. Nothing at all. He gave one last squeeze and snorted to try and clear his nose of sob snot. “Okay so, are you ready to leave? And do you have the transcorder still because I’d like to know if there's any more bastards in the area before we depart,” He said. Spock nodded and reached behind him to pull the transcoder off his aquajets. Oh so that was why he didn’t see the life form approaching alert. Spock fiddled with it before nodding and flipping it around for Kirk to see. The coast was clear.

He reached around his back to pat the Dilithium case and nodded, it was still there and secure. “I’ve still got the Dilithium I picked up, Do you want to go and grab some other samples? I think the ones you had got, uh-” He blinked hard again, Can he stop being such a mess? “- Swallowed, so I’d suggest picking one from the floating debris,” Spock hesitated before nodding, probably because like Kirk he didn’t want to be here any longer than he had to. But weird Dilithium was kinda an important discovery for star fleet so it was fine.

Spock didn’t take long choosing a few and putting them in Kirk’s case. They then went back the way they came. Kirk oddly didn’t feel disturbed at all by the tiny spaces that they were crowded into. He doesn’t even think he acknowledge them. Instead of hearing his voice, Kirk kept his eyes on Spock the whole time. Staying behind him and focusing all his attention on swimming and Spock, it took a little longer to get back than (to get where they had )but there were no more setbacks at least. They got up and out of the caves, out of the water, and back on to the beach. Kirk let out a breath of relief he didn’t know he’d been holding when (until)he heard Spock pull off the helmet and start speaking again. The enterprise had been ready to beam them aboard and out of the Scorpii region for a little while, so there was no delay. After staying on the bridge for the ‘drive home’ and reports, doing a rather short and simple captains log and getting prodded at by Bones, Kirk finally went back to his quarters and fucking slept.

_.... Once we docked in a place where we were certain Scotty would be able to order all the necessary parts, which is the smallest planet orbiting alpha Aquarii, I ordered a mandatory week long shore leave which of course means I scheduled the entire enterprise as docked for two weeks so we could actually fix the ship before we destroy it again. Spock used that time to study the Dilithium we picked up from the caves, he has a hypothesis that the deeper the Dilithium color the longer it has been forming. He also discovered that some of the pieces have almost 30 times the power of normal crystals, which would partially explain the unusual speed of Arachnidian ships. Might have something to do with the trillions of years that planet has existed compared to the planets of other stars but it’s all up in the air right now. Speaking of Spock, I’m going to go drag him out of the research facility he’s holed up in and see if I can beat him at chess blindfolded. Kirk out. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did you guys like it? feedback is appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Do you think I should break up the story in this many words per chapter or should I make the chapter fewer but longer?


End file.
